Has anyone else noticed how it seems design and styling has gone out the door in these times? Some items that used to have eye appeal have been trashed, why? I don't have time to give examples right now.

Has anyone else noticed how it seems design and styling has gone out the door in these times? Some items that used to have eye appeal have been trashed, why? I don't have time to give examples right now.

One example is all the roof lines on all the new cars nowadays, they all look like a prius or VW beetle. The Camaro and Challenger are such a breath of fresh air, even Mercedes can't style anymore the SLS gullwing was the last of the good looking MB's.
Then even things like chain saws, its like styling regresses in some items. In the good old days they tried to make things appeal to the eye, what happened?

The designers got younger,that's what happened .... The stuff that appeals to the younger people today is not my cup of tea that's for sure. I have kept my old 07 Wide Glide, as the 08 was the last of the bob guard type.There is a bit of a rush on the last Dyna S at the moment due to the latest offerings.

One example is all the roof lines on all the new cars nowadays, they all look like a prius or VW beetle.

That's to reduce aerodynamic drag for better fuel mileage. The optimum shape from the point of largest cross sectional area back is for the roof to gradually slope down and the sides to slowly pinch in, so it mimics the rear portion of an airplane wing from the sides and from above. The max csa is usually put even with the driver, and from there to the front is only about half as important as the rear shape so you still see lots of variance in the front, but from max csa back most cars are converging on the same shape. Even my 2005 GMC 2500HD pickup truck has the bed taper so it is 3 or 4" narrower at the tailgate than right behind the cab. Naturally there are an infinite number of thickness-to-length ratios for a wing, with the lowest drag shapes usually the least practical for a vehicle shape so you still get some variation in the slope and taper angles, but that's the general shape we're stuck with from now on, sigh. Boring, just like NASCAR .

One example is all the roof lines on all the new cars nowadays, they all look like a prius or VW beetle.

That's to reduce aerodynamic drag for better fuel mileage. The optimum shape from the point of largest cross sectional area back is for the roof to gradually slope down and the sides to slowly pinch in, so it mimics the rear portion of an airplane wing from the sides and from above. The max csa is usually put even with the driver, and from there to the front is only about half as important as the rear shape so you still see lots of variance in the front, but from max csa back most cars are converging on the same shape. Even my 2005 GMC 2500HD pickup truck has the bed taper so it is 3 or 4" narrower at the tailgate than right behind the cab. Naturally there are an infinite number of thickness-to-length ratios for a wing, with the lowest drag shapes usually the least practical for a vehicle shape so you still get some variation in the slope and taper angles, but that's the general shape we're stuck with from now on, sigh. Boring, just like NASCAR .

The old gen 1 LS400 had a very low drag coefficient and it had a "proper roof line", so I don't buy the roof affecting a thing, the SLS had a flat roof as well. Styling of a chainsaw has nothing to do with aerodynamics, why are they all just butt ugly now?

Can't comment on chainsaws but if you want a great source on vehicle aerodynamics borrow a copy of the book "Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to Vehicle Engineering (Premiere Series Books)" by Wolf-Heinrich Hucho. Used copies are $75 at amazon so try interlibrary loan. I haven't read all of it yet but I'm working on it, and the shape I described came from there. There is also a good aerodynamics forum at www.ecomodders.com if you want some lighter reading; after a few posters quoted Hucho I decided I needed to have a copy .

Can't comment on chainsaws but if you want a great source on vehicle aerodynamics borrow a copy of the book "Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to Vehicle Engineering (Premiere Series Books)" by Wolf-Heinrich Hucho. Used copies are $75 at amazon so try interlibrary loan. I haven't read all of it yet but I'm working on it, and the shape I described came from there. There is also a good aerodynamics forum at www.ecomodders.com if you want some lighter reading; after a few posters quoted Hucho I decided I needed to have a copy .

I really don't care about aerodynamics with an average slow car, and the day they get rid of flat face busses and locomotives then I will maybe pay attention. I would rather see styling, and something pleasing to the eye.

The F7 that was run by the Commonwealth Railways in Australia did not have the lower cyclops head light ,only the upper set . The horn set was something else! on the one posted the horn set is roof mounted, but on the CR locos the set of 5 or so different note trumpets was mounted low , directly in the middle of the nose so vision around them was limited but the sound of a set of those letting rip on a still night was legendary!!